Some pics from the Kirkland Junction to Crown King cross-country trip on 9/25/04.

In attendance were Mattman555 (Pathy Matt) and his German Shephard, Cheyenna (sp?), Spike (Ben), Thanatoz (Mike) and his dog Fidget,  and SuperV3K (Fronty Matt) and his friend Elba.

Mattman's fiancé Norma was not in attendance, but was kind enough to bake chocolate chip cookies for everyone.  Matt went that extra mile and made little individual name labels for each baggie of cookies, complete with cute little hearts and smiley faces.

Elba brought along 7 Layer Bars, so between those and the choc chip cookies, we scored on baked goods!  : )

We left from the meeting spot and headed to Wickenburg, then north on the 89 thru Congress and Yarnell to Kirkland Junction.  We turned off and headed east on Wagoner Road (CR60).  The road remains paved (though in poor condition) for approx 10 miles, then turns to dirt.  It passes by several ranches, two of which were not afraid to flaunt their dinero, evident in the ornate wrought iron fencing and huge stone decorative walls that lined the road.  One ranch had aerated ponds amid old-growth cottonwoods and manicured lawns.  It looked like a golf course in the middle of nowhere.  I was disappointed to see the 'No Fishing' signs posted along the road.

The trail basically runs south/southeast crossing the Hassayampa River several times, before turning east to the Minnehaha area.  There wasn't a drop of water in the Hass.  The dirt road is in very good shape for another 10 miles.  At about the halfway point (20 miles from the 89), the dirt road narrows into more of a trail, but is still easy driving.

You could do the entire 40 miles to CK in 2wd, which Ben did. There are a couple places as you climb the Bradshaws towards Crown King where 4x4 is nice to have, but not necessary.  Route finding is extremely easy, with only a couple 'forks in the road' to make a decision on.  There are two separate 'Crown King' signs on the route, pointing the way.

About 16 miles from Crown King is an area on the map noted as Minnehaha.  I've not had much success tracking down concrete info on it, but my understanding is that it was originally comprised of numerous town sites, according to www.ghosttowns.com .  The area is now covered in manzanita, juniper and scrub oak.  We didn't stop to beat the bushes to look for remnants of buildings, so I may take a trip back there in the future, just to satisfy my own curiosity.

However, what we did come across in the Minnehaha vicinity was the Button Mine, which had several buildings still standing to explore.  There is an active clean-up of the mine site in progress.  Nobody was present, but there were bagged rubber gloves, food wrappers and large cardboard boxes lined with plastic and loaded with hazardous materials, on pallets to be taken away.  It would be a very long drive to pavement at that point and I would imagine clean-up is costly. 

According to www.mindat.org, the Button Mine was established around 1900, and includes a 400 foot deep shaft with drifts extending out 650 feet north and 100 feet south.   Though it doesn't state specifically what was mined, a quartz vein is mentioned (and visible in the side hill), so gold was probably the likely sought after prize.

Www.ghosttowns.com states that a Caretaker is at the mine site (and dogs), but we didn't come across anybody while we were there.  There was a trailer there, but looked as if it had been abandoned and vandalized some time ago.  However, if visiting in the future, keep in mind that there may be individuals at the site and to treat trespassing with caution.  Also, the picture on the www.ghosttowns.com website shows intact buildings which are now leaning or damaged, indicating a much older photo.

From there you run roughly north/northeast into the Bradshaw mountains, ending up at the Senator Hwy about 6 miles north of Crown King.  We headed to CK, stopped for some Heny Weinhard's root beer and the mandatory fudge (Mike wasn't allowed back home unless he brought some to his wife).  CK was the usual weekend cluster, with people, quads and 4x4's everywhere.

On the way down the mountain towards I-17, we came across a beautiful Mojave Rattlesnake, as well as 3 newborn Western Diamondbacks.

All in all, it was a fun day.  There was nothing particularly challenging about the trail, except for the sheer distance you must cover (about 70 miles from the 89 to I-17).  But, the scenery was good, the Button Mine was interesting, and the company, as usual, was sarcastic and funny.  Ben got to give his truck a cross-country run after rebuilding most of the drive train himself and Mike got to test out those new 33's.  No breakage, everything worked well. 

And watching Pathy Matt show off his 'lean' while climbing the grade to Yarnell, with gas spewing out the back of his 'finder, was priceless.

Hopefully I've not left anything out.  Please chime in if I did.

Regards,

-matt